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Producing competitive graduates

IMPLEMENTING Senior High School (SHS), the last two years of the K to 12 program, could be the best decision yet made by the Department of Education (Deped) in the Philippines.

Jenielito Atillo, spokesperson for the Deped-Davao, said the performance of the K to 12 program comes with a Career Guidance Program (CGP) to help senior high students in making informed choices regarding their future career path.

CGP will assist Grade 10 students make choices regarding their preferred SHS track. Each student must choose one track to master and base their choice on how they want to advance after completing high school or Grade 12.

The career-assessment and aptitude tests and an occupational-interest inventory, meanwhile, will show the student’s strengths and benefits. A career-advocacy programs will help and guide students in choosing the right track for them.

SHS four major tracks are academic, technical-vocational livelihood, sports, and arts and design. Since the contents of the subjects that students will take in Grades 11 and 12 depend on their chosen career track, they should be guided.

Academic track prepares students who plan to pursue college education, arts and design covers nine topics, eight of which require 80 hours each per semester, and sports and technical-vocational livelihood—with specialized subjects.

"We considered having the program in our country very successful. Getting our students prepared to work or college is a good choice because whatever will be their decision then, they are already knowledgeable and skillful," Atillo said.

Atillo said the Deped-Davao earlier had its first batch of graduates of the senior high school in a regular schedule from 50 public and private schools here in the region. He added that some of them go to college, while some look for a job.